Bleeding Gums Janeen

So, starting this blog I had the best intentions. I planned to journal everyday, but, then, ya’ know… I got busy. Okay, I got unproductive. But then, I work up with a bloody mouth and I needed someone to complain to, so, voila, I’m back to my adoring public. Ok, well, I’m back to the blog I read sometimes.

To back up since I last blogged, I got Zavalin shot #2 on Wednesday, December 23rd. That afternoon, I checked into a hotel to ride out 4 days of isolation from my family. On the 24th, I was feeling pretty good; I worked out for the first time in forever. I watched my little girl open up her Christmas gifts via Skype. I was feeling fantastic until that Saturday night when I started feeling tummy sick and achy (my husband feels Zevalin is not to blame for the sudden sickness, but the massive amounts of cable TV I was watching, specifically “Overboard.”) But, when the husband and baby picked me up on Sunday morning I was feeling pretty good (hugging a perfect 2 year old is pretty great medicine). I returned to work on Monday. Admittedly, I’ve not been in the best of moods since returning to work. I’ve been really, really tired, like exhausted. I’ve been running a very low fever (99 degrees) and have had bone pain. However, I thought I was conquering. My last nap was January 2nd, and slowly I was pushing back my bedtime from 7:30, to 8:30, to 9p.m. The ouchy feeling in my knees, wrists and ribs was uncomfortable, and probably could have been solved with some Tylenol, but I’ve been stubbornly refusing pain meds in an attempt to get closer to drug free. So, while I was bitching, a lot, things could have been worse.

On Wednesday January 6, 2010, I work up in a lot of pain. My legs, wrist and ribs throbbed, and my mouth felt raw, as if I had been munching on popcorn kernels all night long. I wobbled to the bathroom mirror only to be greeted by a bloody smile. I flossed and brushed and flossed frantically in a weird OC dance, resulting in more and more blood in the sink.

And that might have been the best part of my day. Seriously, Wednesday sucked. I hobbled around like a hundred and four year old cripple with a running ouch and oui soundtrack. I succumbed to a little Tylenol PM at 6:30 and today the aches and pains are more manageable.

Which leaves one more stressor for me to whine about—I changed my insurance during January’s open enrollment. My oncology nursed left me a voicemail message yesterday stating that I had to start getting blood draws again. I don’t know who to ask for a referral for the blood draw and I can’t afford to chance the insurance not covering it. Recently, there was some HMO snafu, and I got bill for a blood draw that I don’t even remember getting (all the needles, needles, NEEDLES). Now some lab wants $1,000 I don’t have. Here’s hoping the tax return covers it.

Well, that ends the cancer rant for today. Tune in later for more of the same.